


Rise of the Blue Spirit

by wishfulWhale



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (eventually!) - Freeform, (eventually) - Freeform, Blue Spirit Zuko (Avatar), Gen, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), If I type spirit one more time I might just lose my marbles, Mentioned Ozai (Avatar), Miyuki is a Spirit, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Spirit Miyuki, Spirit Zuko (Avatar), Spirits, Zuko Joins The Gaang (Avatar), Zuko Joins The Gaang Early (Avatar), Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Zuko's Scar (Avatar)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-26
Packaged: 2021-03-28 19:41:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30144618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wishfulWhale/pseuds/wishfulWhale
Summary: The Crown Prince of the Fire Nation dies a week after he loses his first Agni Kai. There are mutterings that the Fire Lord refused to give his son and heir an opportunity to return to the Fire Nation. A boy named Li is smuggled off of an old Fire Nation ship and is delivered to an old herbalist and her not-a-real-cat cat.Eventually whispers of a benevolent spirit arises.[Updates Every Friday][Pre-Canon to the very start of Book One]
Comments: 17
Kudos: 84





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> My first work. I kept descriptions of Zuko's injury to a minimum but it's worse than how it was in canon. The original characters won't have a big role and I picked their names from various baby name websites. Updates weekly on Fridays!

The sun was low when the doctor emerged from under the deck of the bucket of bolts named the Toucan-Puffin. Only hours earlier, Doctor Shizuka was forced under an oath and given medical supplies and a freshly burnt and banished thirteen year old before being shipped out to sea.

After doing what she could, all the doctor wanted was fresh air. The details were kept from her and she was sworn to never utter a word of what she had seen. With good reason, for if Shizuka had seen the grievous wounds and had less fear of what consequences would be brought down on her and her family she would have told the tale of the cruelty inflicted on the young prince.

“Doctor,” a young pikesman waved to her, arms weighed down by two buckets of water, “I was getting water and I wondered if you wanted me to boil it for you.”

The doctor looked over pikesman Yoshio and felt herself tense at that reminder of the task ahead of her. “Let’s do it in my infirmary. Though before I must ask, are all occupants under an oath?”

“Of silence ma’am? Yep. No one will be saying anything, not that we know anything outside of a doctor and a mysterious patient.”

Shizuka straightened as she walked below deck, “And we will be keeping it that way, pikesman.”

She hesitated before the door and looked at the young man- goodness the age of enlistment was getting smaller with each passing day- and saw her darling boy Keiichi, so happy to serve. She would not let him be harmed for her failure to keep this under wraps. 

She opened it and saw Yoshio’s face pale. “Dear Agni,” he cursed softly, setting the buckets down, only to step back with hands over his mouth. Fresh meat. Probably hasn't even seen a proper battle with that reaction.

“Language,” she snapped, approaching the bedside of the child. The prince’s face, or whatever could be seen from under Shizuka’s bandaging, was pale, lips chapped and bloody. “Get that water boiling,” she ordered as she opened her cabinets in a search for a clean washcloth, the only response being Yoshio’s steady breathing as he began bending a flame.

“How did this happen?” Yoshio croaked. “I mean, he’s the prince. What monster would have the authority to get away with this?”

“Don’t speak such treasonous words,” the doctor warned, setting cloth aside and checking her small clock. She saw him tremble at the implications of her words. His armor creaked when she pulled back a portion of bandages to reapply her poultice and to disinfect.

As she redid the bandages Yoshio sat at the chair at the bedside. The two sat together and Shizuka, for the second time that night, was reminded of Keiichi, in the form of the prince. It was years ago, when she returned home only to find Keiichi curled in bed with a fever. She had held his little hands as he sobbed, wishing she could do anything to rid him of his pain, even to inflict it on herself. That was the duty of a parent. Only a monster, one utterly shunned from Agni’s light would dare inflict this suffering on a child, much less their own. 

Maybe this is why after a week of toiling and fighting for the boy’s life she hesitates at Earth Kingdom shores. She gives Yoshio a letter for the royal palace. The letter is given to a hawk with a black ribbon. The letter proclaims the worsening state of the prince.

The response is to dump the body into the sea, and the doctors blood is filled with ice.

The other letter that comes to the doctor thanks her for Keiichi’s sacrifice for the nation. She weeps over his possessions and thinks of the recruits who he was leading and training in the 41st. She thinks of what little gossip and news she has heard of the Agni Kai and she looks to the child who has hardly stirred.  Recovery is complex. It is not unheard of infection setting in when the medicine is in poor condition or if equipment has not been properly sterilized. No one can fault the doctor for the severity of the wounds.

She thinks of Keiichi as she writes a letter regarding the death of the prince.  A day later she takes her things and retires to a neutral port. Yoshio helps carry a crate or two to her new small home, paid for by her earnings of working decades as a doctor. 

Shizuka sends a final letter to a sister accompanied by spirits. The caravan carrying the letter takes custody of the old woman’s grandchild who is ill to bring him to her sister.

The Fire Nation grieves appropriately for the Crown Prince. A doctor settles into a retirement from the military, but never stops healing. A pikes man deserts, seeking a legend, not unlike how a prince could have done in another life, if his father had more restraint or thought that banishing a child with no chance of return was a bad political move. He is the one to inform an admiral about the events of the Agni Kai. He is invited to a game of Pai Sho.

Days after the death of the prince, a young boy named Li awakens to a house filled with herbs, plants, an old woman and a cat.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko's life at Taku, acquiring a cousin figure and accidentally starting a small religious following without knowing.
> 
> [Happy Friday everyone! I hope everyone is doing alright and is enjoying the story so far!]
> 
> [Miyuki: is anyone gonna adopt that? *doesn't wait for an answer*]

The herbalist who took Zuko under her wing is peculiar, vacant but also very kind. It might have to do with the fact that a good portion of his face is melted, he can barely walk or the fact her sister was the one to beseech her to take him in. 

He learnt of what happened in a letter that started off with neat and prim script but ended with tear drops and an apology. Zuko stores it with what little belongings the doctor had managed to save. It goes under his bed and then under the mask of the Blue Spirit.

When he could move he settled onto the porch, looking out across the ruins of Taku, letting the old woman’s talk rush over his head, too tired and scared to yell at her. The cat stared at him unblinkingly. 

Zuko, or Li which is how the herbalist happily introduces him as to the various patients and customers, is silent when soldiers enter. None questions this, a footsman shook his head at an earth bender who stared at his gold eye, who guiltily noticed the burn and flinched away.

Recovery is arduous, slow and painful. He stands like a baby ostrich-horse but doesn’t manage to run around within hours or days. Miyuki watched over him as he wobbled around the house. Li thinks there’s something wrong with that cat.

Something about Miyuki’s appearance is off, almost as though she was drawn by an artist who made their first attempt to draw something realistically. She’s friendly enough so Li avoids insulting her and her old age- which is bizarrely old.

The bandages stay on throughout his recovery. The herbalist taught him her work, laughing when he asked the difference between her and her sister. Herbalists do not take an oath and he takes to the trade like a fish to water. When the herbalist sent him to town for the first time he saw dual dao for sale. The shopkeeper gives him a price too great and he gazed longingly when he passed by on his return journey.

Zuko weeps for the life he lost and Li bites his tongue to stop himself from snapping at others, keeping his anger at doing peasants work down. He tried to show his gratitude to the herbalist but she waved him off with a grandmotherly ruffle of his short fuzzy hair.

His Phoenix Plume was cut off long before he learnt of his supposed death. Zuko longs to return and beg his father for forgiveness but Li recognizes Shizuka and Yoshio’s risk. He only barely resisted the urge to scream at the soldier who muttered about war children and fire nation soldiers.

Instead of screaming he drew upon his memories of his mother and took a deep breath. He isn’t Zuko anymore. Prince Zuko died tragically, Princess Azula is now the heir. Li is the ward of the herbalist of Taku. Both were lucky to be born, he muses, petting Miyuki.

How lucky he is to survive and end up with the herbalist and Miyuki. He only wishes for his mother, as he sits alone in the dark, holding her mask, and the Earth Kingdom knife he received during the six hundred days siege. 

  
  


When the Herbalist is helping two soldiers who were injured and couldn’t make it back to their camp, Li sneaks out, Miyuki at his heels and dual dao in hand. Zuko was shamed for his weapon as benders shouldn’t rely on mundane weapons as his father always preached. Li on the other hand was a non bender, but hadn’t used the swords in years.

He carefully takes a stance but his mind blanked when he tried to draw upon his memory of the katas.

“Dual Dao?” A rough voice asked. 

One of the soldiers is seated atop a pile of rubble, idly removing a rock from his boot. “I used to take lessons way back when. Wasn’t permitted to use em for the first few years of service but I eventually got my way,” he sent a crooked smile at Li.

“I had some training,” Li offered coolly. 

“Looks like it wasn’t enough or too long ago kiddo,” the soldier puts his boot back down and joins Li in the clearing, taking a big stretch. He didn’t look too old and Li points this out, only for the soldier to laugh. “Aw you flatterer! I’m actually twenty six, only spent five years serving so far. But I’m Feng. Want some fresh training?”

  
  


Feng was good at using the dao but was utterly air headed. He cracked jokes constantly and was a horrible flirt. Lijuan whacked him across the back of his head when he tried to flirt with the herbalist. She rolled her eyes and said, “if he’s ever embarrassing you, give him a slap across the head if you can reach. The poor fool was dropped as a baby.”

“I take offence to that!” Gasped Feng as Lijuan and the other soldier (Shing) laughed. Li even cracked a smile, though he feared getting his hands crushed by the earthbenders.

Lijuan and Shing were injured and couldn’t walk far enough to reunite with their battalion so Feng had sent a letter and now knew where they’d be able to reunite with the rest of the army when Shing’s leg and Lijuan’s knee had healed.

Until then, Li found himself quickly polishing his skills with his dao. Feng was encouraging and bouncy, much like a fox-dog or a hyperactive lemur. It was impossible work to redo everything with his messed up vision so Feng encouraged a new way of thinking- doing everything blind.

Feng claimed he had a great teacher who taught him how to use the dao but had him blindfolded the whole time. Lijuan chose this moment to laugh and asked about the time he ran right into a tree. Feng’s sputtering was hilarious. 

Zuko was sharply reminded of Lu Ten as he sparred with Feng. He spent an hour alone on the roof with Miyuki. At least until Feng joined him.

“Hey kid,” he had called from where he was struggling to climb up.

“Hey Feng,” Li said, not moving a muscle to help the soldier who grunted and just managed to heave himself onto the roof.

“Are you alright?”

Li looked out over the ruins and Feng sighed. “You acted weird while we were sparring. And I want you to know that while I’m terrible with this whole comforting thing you can talk to me. My cousin he,” it was at this point Feng took a deep shuddering breath, while resisting tears, “he was a war child.”

Li quietly turned his gaze to Feng. “The man my aunt married wasn’t good. So whenever my cousin faces anyone with a weapon he panics. I want you to know that there’s no shame in-”

“I’m not afraid!” Li snarled and Feng almost jumped. “I don’t want your fucking help!”

The faded marks on his wrists ached and Li flinched, expecting burning pain for his disrespect but Feng seemed to soften even further. “Hey, hey, hey,” Feng soothed, “I’m not mad.”

Li grabbed his arms and curled up. “I’m not,” Feng restated, with pity in his eyes. “Listen, recovery is a process or whatever. People can get mad, I’m not gonna hit you for getting mad.”

There was a beat as they sat in silence. “I liked teaching you the dao,” he said abruptly. “Not that you needed much teaching. You’re either some kind of prodigy or you remembered more than you gave yourself credit for.”

Feng placed a hand on Li’s shoulder. “Lijan and Shing want to leave tomorrow,” he admitted. “I’m gonna miss you kid. Do what you do and help people y’know? You’re a good kid and I’d fight a man on that.”

“You’re leaving?” Logically Zuko had known that Feng would be leaving. He just never really thought about it.

“Yeah,” Feng sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t,” Li huffed. “I’ll say goodbye in the morning.” 

With that Li dropped off the roof and slipped into his room. He knew that Feng and the others would be leaving but for some reason he thought he could stay in the summer afternoons where he’d practice katas with him. 

As the soldiers left Feng hugged Li. “Stay safe and have fun kid,” he said and ruffled his hair with a grin. “If you ever need me . . .”

“I know,” Li croaked as Feng began marching away with a soft smile. The herbalist patted his back. “I’m glad you were able to make a friend,” she sighed. “Too many good young people die in this war.”

  
  


Miyuki was watching as Li paced rapidly in front of the door. “I know he said to stay safe, but sneaking around is fun,” he looked up and ran his hands through his short hair, “like it was the only really fun thing I could do. Back home.”

“But I don’t want the herbalist to get in trouble if I’m caught,” he despaired, “what would uncle do? Probably recite a proverb like ‘Zuko the pygmy puma might love cat fish but it will not risk it’s claws to catch one,’ or something. It’s not like it’s illegal right?”

Miyuki meowed and pawed at the Blue Spirit mask and Zuko felt something click. “Oh,” he whispered, gently lifting the theatre mask, “ _ Oh _ . You really are clever.”

He could have sworn that the cat was smiling as he tied his mask on, pausing at the door to tighten his belt. The grinning mask turned to the cat. “Thank you Miyuki.”

His feet carried him through the woods and towards the nearby town that looked out across the bay to the Pohuai Fortress, slipping through trees. He climbed rooftops and glided silently through the air despite the rainfall that began when he arrived. It took an effort to firebend so he could keep warm. It was the only type of bending he could do after the Agni Kai, unless you counted getting so scared of a fire pit that it went out. Zuko was miffed at the sight of steam floating off of his dark clothes. As he crouched atop the ridge of a large house he barely caught the sounds of a struggle.

===========

Mei had worked late that day. Her hands were sore from constantly weaving as she ran her fabric store but it was worth it, her pocket was heavy with coin and she had woven new cloth. She was angry that she had spent so much time talking with Ying. Now it was dark and she had to hurry home. 

Mei hesitated at an alleyway. It was dark and there might be someone hidden there but she could get to her house quicker than she could on the main streets. She froze, listening to the rain patter against roofs and cobble, while wind rushed through empty streets and hesitantly inched towards the alleyway.

A hand clamped over her mouth and she struggled as she was dragged into the alley way. A thug kept his hand over her mouth as tears poured down her face.

“Listen, we can do this easily or not,” he growled. “I want all the valuables on your person, okay?”

When he released Mei she screamed and drove her fist into his face and he snarled, slapping her and drawing a dagger. She choked and scrambled back as his knife was drawn back, moonlight reflecting off of it when it was suddenly sent flying. The thug turned and fell to the ground at the hand of a small figure.

Mei’s heart skipped a beat as a blue face gazed at her, foot on the back of the thug. It was clad in black, fog curling around it. The person was sparkling and Mei realized that this was no mortal- it was a spirit. It’s form was indistinct and the blades it held appeared to glow in the dark. Steam hissed from it’s body and Mei dropped to her knees clutching her chest.

“Thank you honorable spirit,” she gasped, recalling all her grandfather had told her of spirits. “H-how can I repay you?”

The steam swirls around it and the swords made of moonlight merge and rest at the spirits back. The spirit shrugged and Mei can’t help but stare at the frozen blue face with pointed white horns.

“Please,” she begged, tales of spirits taking what they willed if they weren’t properly repaid dancing through her mind.

The spirit was hesitant, “Something blue?” The voice wasn’t particularly deep but it was raspy and rough like the leather her grandfather worked with as he told her spirit tales.

Mei produced the only blue ribbon she had, something she was saving to use for a noble’s outfit. The spirit held it delicately and seemed to startle. “Your debt is paid. Be,” here the spirit paused, “blessed.”

She staggered to her knees and with a hiss of steam the spirit disappeared. Mei ran home and embraced her husband, whispering the tale as she was embraced in his arms.

Ying had listened to her tale with wide eyes in the morning. The older woman nodded and brewed tea as Mei held her husband's hand. Ying was disappointed she failed to ask the spirits name but told Mei to make an offering occasionally. A Young Spirit was restless and wild, an offering or two might soothe it and prevent it from causing mischief. Ying hugged Mei and told her that she was very glad that Mei was able to offer something in return, so that the spirit wouldn’t take something Mei couldn’t afford to lose. The elder was also very glad that Mei was safe.

Ying must’ve told others as her quiet store was flooded by curious people, wanting to hear the tale. Whispers filled the street, and in the alley a small shrine cropped up. It wasn’t a great shrine but a few people had offered blue items for the spirit who had saved their friend.. Mei's heart was warmed that people wanted to thank her savior and offered a second piece of ribbon to the spirit on her way home from work.

===========

Miyuki was grinning. Zuko never thought that it was possible but he was certain that the cat looked either smug or proud of him. He couldn’t tell but the thought was stupid. As he curled up to experience the first truly restful sleep since the Agni Kai and his arrival to Taku, Miyuki purred and sat sentinel at his bedside.

The herbalist peeked in and smiled softly. “He didn’t get into too much trouble did he, Miyuki?”

As the herbalist ambled away, Miyuki, a spirit of healing and protection huffed and watched her kitten finally relax.


End file.
